South Carolina State disinvites Lt. Gov. Evette to speak at commencement after students say it ‘felt like a slap in the face’

SC State President Alexander Conyers announced that the university will no longer host Lr. Gov. Pamela Evette after student protests.

After nearly 24 hours of student protests, South Carolina State University officials have decided to rescind their invitation to Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette to speak at the 2026 commencement on May 8. 

“Out of an abundance of caution for safety and with careful consideration, the university has decided to move in a different direction for this Spring Commencement,” the university wrote in a statement shared with WYFF News. “We are grateful to Lt. Gov. Evette for her willingness to engage with our students and for her time and consideration in accepting the invitation.” 

As previously reported by theGrio,  student protests and demonstrations erupted on campus after university officials reportedly informed student leaders about the decision to host Evette as the commencement speaker.  From peaceful protests in the university administration building to outdoor demonstrations to online petitions, students made it very clear that they did not support the HBCU’s invitation. 

“Once I learned that this was indeed our commencement speaker, I was heartbroken. This felt like a slap in the face to me and my fellow graduates,” SC State senior Summer Gray told theGrio. “What made me start this petition is the fact that they invited a speaker who is against everything we believe in as HBCU students. She openly stated that she is against DEI, and coming to speak to people of color with that belief is disrespectful.” 

As students protested, Evette released numerous statements and hosted a press conference in which she referred to the student protests as “woke mobs,” telling them to “bring it on,” a response Gray and various members of the student body deemed “unprofessional” and “inappropriate.” 

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However, this afternoon, the HBCU’s President, Alexander Conyers, addessed students during their demonstration, condemning the “mob” label and announcing the rescission of the invitation. 

“I don’t know how anyone can confuse that with being a mob. What I saw yesterday, what I saw today, were college students exercising their free rights,” Conyers told students. “With that being said, we can’t pull back what’s out on social media. We can’t pull back what people think. But I certainly don’t want people to think that the students here at South Carolina State University, future educators, doctors, lawyers, attorneys, scientists, business owners are thugs or think that they are a mob.”

He continued: “I welcome anyone on this campus in this state, in this nation, to come onto this campus and have a constructive dialogue and exchange ideas and viewpoints with our students because I know that you can hold your own against the best of them. With that being said, I know the temperature in the country now, and because of what’s out there now, I don’t want anyone showing up on this campus thinking that something is different and not knowing what those thoughts may lead to.” 

“I certainly would never intentionally place our students, our faculty, our staff or our visitors in harm’s way. Because of that…the unknown, because we don’t know how everyone thinks, I’ve made the decision to rescind the invitation to the Lt. Gov. to speak at your commencement,” he concluded. “I’ve invited everyone onto this campus at any time to engage and have a dialogue with us with you with different viewpoints because that is important. But graduation is not the time for that.”